Overview

Hair Loss - Symptom, Treatment And Causes

What is Hair Loss?

Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Typically inflammation or scarring is not present. Hair loss in some people causes psychological distress.

What are the types of Hair Loss :

The hair growth rate slows down as people age and is called alopecia. There are lot many hair loss types

:

Involutional Alopecia- It is the natural gradual thinning of hair with age. There is an increase in the number of hair follicles which enter resting phase and the other hairs become fewer and shorter.

Androgenic Alopecia- Both women and men can be affected by this genetic condition. Men who have this condition may start losing hair even in their teenage years. This is known as male-pattern baldness. It is marked by gradual hair loss from the frontal scalp and the crown and the hairline receding. Women affected by this have hair thinning after their forties. It is known as female-pattern baldness and maximum hair loss happens near the crown.

Alopecia Areata- It usually has a sudden onset and leads to hair loss in patches in young adults and children. It may lead to total balding (alopecia totalis). In over 90% people having this condition, the hair grows back within few years.

Trichotillomania- It is observed most commonly in children. A person tears out their own hair because of this psychological disorder.

Telogen Effluvium- Hair growth cycle changes lead to a temporary thinning of hair on the scalp. It happens due to a lot of hair entering resting phase which leads to shedding of hair and consequent thinning.

Scarring Alopecia- It leads to irreversible hair loss. Inflammatory conditions of the skin like folliculitis, acne and cellulitis, results in scarring that destroys the hair’s ability to regenerate. Tightly woven hair and hot combs may result in irreversible hair loss as well.

Hormones- Abnormal androgen levels may cause hair loss as well.

Genes – Genes from either parents can increase the likelihood of a person having female or male pattern baldness.

Medical Predispositions- Diabetes, lupus, iron deficiency, thyroid disease, anemia and eating disorders may lead to hair loss. Usually when the root cause of the hair loss is treated, hair grows back again.

Cosmetic- Procedures like perming, hair dyes, bleaching and over use of shampoo can all lead to thinning of hair, making it brittle and weak. Braiding hair tightly, using hot curlers or rollers also causes hair breakage and damage. These however don’t lead to baldness.

The hair regrows normally if the causative factor is stopped.

Treatable by medical professional
Usually self diagnosable
Lab test not required
Chronic: can last for years or be lifelong

Symptoms

Hair falling out in clumps or patches.Thinning of hair.Hair becoming brittle and breaking easily.

Popular Health Tips

What is Alopecia Areata?
Alopecia Areata is an autoimmune condition that results in shedding of hair in small and random patches. Alopecia in general affects the scalp, but then again it can also occur in other parts of the body.
The exact reason for alopecia still remains undefined. Nevertheless, it has found that most people who have a family history of autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes are the most vulnerable to this condition. The good news for you is that although this illness has no cure, there are treatments which can help your hair regrow quickly and may also, in many cases, prevent future hair loss.

How is Alopecia diagnosed?
While the doctor may be able to diagnose this disease by simply looking at the extent of hair loss, he can also examine a few strands of the hair samples under a microscope. If needed, your doctor can also perform a scalp biopsy to rule out other conditions that may have caused the hair loss, such as fungal infections like tinea capitis. While performing a biopsy, the doctor will remove a small piece of skin (no more than the nail on your little finger) on your scalp for analysis. If other autoimmune conditions are suspected, blood tests may also be done. The specific blood test that needs to be performed depends completely on the particular disorder that your doctor suspects.

How is Alopecia treated?

Medical Treatment: Minoxidil helps in stimulating hair growth and also prevents further hair loss. Other commonly used therapies include corticosteroid creams and steroid injections and ointment. In certain cases, photo-chemotherapy can be used as a part of the treatment plan to promote hair growth. Photo-chemotherapy is a type of radiation therapy that combines ultraviolet radiation along with oral medications as a follow-up.

Alternate Therapy

If you wish, you can also choose alternate therapies to treat this condition. These therapies include:

Apart from the cosmetic worries, baldness can cause major esteem issues. Hereditary or genetics do contribute to about 95 percent of the cases pertaining to baldness (alopecia) while the remaining 5 percent might be due to the side effects of certain medications, illness, stress or diet. Here is where cosmetic procedures come to your rescue in treating this condition.

Hair transplants are used in filling in one’s bald areas, thereby making it the sole permanent solution to baldness. Tiny strands of hair are eliminated from the areas with thicker growth and substituted in the bald regions.

Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP) is a therapy wherein concentrated blood plasma comprising of growth proteins is injected into the scalp through a thin needle to stimulate healing of the wound.

Scalp reduction involves cutting off the bald regions to stitch the rest of the scalp together.

Often, tissue expanders are used to stretch the hair bearing scalp to the adjacent bald area with the help of the tissue expansion technique.

When stress becomes the root cause of hair fall, Astressin-B, a stress-hormone blocker, works to inhibit the stress stimulating hormone.

A natural biological substance known as Extracellular Matrix (ECM) is implanted on the part containing the damaged tissues to speed up healing.

Almost every woman suffers from a gynecological problem at some point or the other. In most cases these disorders are mild and easily treatable, but some gynecological problems can have serious implications and affect their fertility and quality of life.

Here are the five most common gynecological problems faced by women.

Dysmenorrhea: Abdominal cramps and back aches are common side effects of menstruation but some women can suffer from excruciating pain during their menstrual cycles. This is known as dysmenorrheal. This is caused by a decreased supply of oxygen to the uterus due to strong contractions in the uterus. These cramps become less painful as a woman ages and in most cases is resolved by childbirth. Symptoms of this disorder include excruciating abdominal pain, pain in the lower back, inner thighs and hips, nausea and loose stools.

Ovarian Cysts: Ovarian cysts can be big or small and many women live with cysts without being aware of it. These cysts can be described as fluid filled sac like structures that develop around and on the ovary which vary in terms of size and type. Ovarian cysts may or may not be tumors. Cysts can be a result of the growth of a follicle or the breaking down of tissue within the ovaries. In most cases, these cysts dissolve on their own but they should be monitored carefully.

Endometriosis: This is a condition where the uterine tissue grows outside the walls of the uterus. This occurs commonly on the ovaries and fallopian tubes but can also develop on the cervix, bladder, bowel or rectum. The exact cause of endometriosis is unknown. Some theories suggest that it is triggered by retrograde menstruation or the backward flow of menstrual blood into the fallopian tubes. The symptoms of this condition include abdominal cramps, pain during intercourse and bowel movements, bleeding between periods and digestive problems.

Poly Cyst Ovarian Disease (PCOD): PCOD is a condition where the ovaries produce follicles that develop into cysts instead of eggs. This leads to a lack of viable eggs and thus affects a woman’s fertility. This can also cause mood swings and depression. PCOD is triggered by hormone changes and exhibits symptoms such as irregular periods, acne, hair loss and breathing problems while sleeping.

Urinary Tract Infection (UTI): UTIs are usually caused by bacterial infections and can be triggered by pregnancy, frequent intercourse, diabetes and as a side effect of certain types of medication. The symptoms of this condition include stinging and burning sensations while urinating, abdominal cramps, painful intercourse and an increased urge to urinate frequently.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Hair-fall is a normal process, if we consider the hair-growth cycle that lasts for two to six weeks. The usual rate of growth is about one centimeter a month. After two to three months, hair which were in their ‘resting phase’ shed to allow new hair to grow back. Deviation from this normal cycle leads to abnormal hair-fall which can then become a matter of concern.

Testing hair thinning: Take 20 to 30 hair strands and hold them between your thumb and index finger. Pull firmly and slowly. If more than six hair strands happen to come out at a time, then you might be suffering from abnormal hair loss.

Limited use of hair dryers: Consistent heating weakens the hair proteins and leads to brittleness and fragility of hair follicles. Hence, limit the uses of hair dryers, curlers, hair straightness or hot brushes.

Avoid Perms: Avoid chemical straightening or curling which breaks the inner bonding of your hair and makes the hair brittle.

Use a mild shampoo: Regularly washing your hair cleanses your hair as well as your scalp which prevents any chance of infection and the subsequent hair loss. Instead of shampooing daily, do it on alternate days. Mild shampoo includes sultaines, sulfosuccinates, silicones, and amphoacetate.

Right Choice of Shampoo: Use different shampoos for different purposes; dandruff, greasy or normal hair and for dry hair. If the shampoo is rich in protein, it may boost the volume and make it thicker and smoother for a temporary period, but does not repair the damaged hair

Use a good hairbrush: Use a soft brush, made of natural fibers. Instead of a brush, use a comb for wet hair.

Scalp Massage: Massage your hair with nourishing oils such as rosemary, coconut, almond or lavender oil. It warms your skin and boosts blood circulation and provides nutrients to the follicles.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

Are you conditioning your hair the right way? When this question pops up most people wonder about the implications of conditioning the hair and what is the right way of doing the same. In order to address that issue here are a few frequently asked questions that most people would like to know.

Conditioning your hair before you shampoo can up the nutritive value of fine hair without pulling it down. While smoothening out the hair cuticle, conditioning can help to repair hair fibers if you do it before applying shampoo to your hair. Only if the hairs are not clean due to dust or pollution, then do a quick mild shampoo first then condition the hairs, shampoo again to rinse off the heavy conditioner for bouncy hairs.

2. A conditioner is more effective if you leave it on longer
It's not how long you keep the conditioner on your hair that is important, but how well you coat each strand of your hair is what matters. That's why you need to spend a few minutes of your time working the product evenly through your hair.

3. Conditioning doesn't allow your hair to breathe
Even if a small quantity of silicone residue gets left behind on the hair, it doesn't hamper the entry of moisture into the hair shaft. Depending on the environs, whether it's humid or dry, it'll absorb moisture or lose out moisture.

4. Which technique is the right, when it comes to deep-conditioning your hair?

Finger comb the product thoroughly through your hair for complete penetration and utilizing a shower comb to spread the conditioner through your hair is the ideal way to ensure that the hair conditioner should coat your hair completely.

5. What's the ideal deep-conditioning treatment time?

Once you've applied the conditioner all over your hair, wrap a towel that's been heated in a microwave around your head for 20 minutes. Doing this will help the conditioner to infiltrate deeper into your hair shaft.

In case you have a concern or query you can always consult an expert & get answers to your questions!

You are suffering from hormonal changes causing Androgenetic alopecia causing hair fall. It's completely stoppable even regrowth of hair is possible with certain medications without any side effects. Treatment depends on the grade of hair loss. So, it's a must for diagnosing which grade, you are in for an effective treatment. Please send photos of your head, by direct online consultation for accurate diagnosis and proper treatment.

dandruff is difficult to cure, it can only be controlled. Medicated Ayurved Hair oils give fair results. Hairfall is also due to dandruff. Good life style with proper healthy diet and exercise plays a good role in hair health.
Include green leafy veg, sprouts, curd, fruits , almonds in your diet

Thyroid dysfunction is the cause of hairfall . Regular oiling with Ayurveda oil like Mahabhringaraj hair oil can help you to some extent.
Include almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, milk, green moong in your diet.
Exercise also has its own major role in keeping hair healthy.

This medication is used to treat male pattern baldness (androgenetic alopecia) at the crown and in the middle of the scalp. It should be used by adult men only.Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks.

Hair Related Problems

Hair can be long and wavy, short and straight, frizzy and unmanageable, or smooth and shiny. Hair comes in many different lengths, styles, colors, and textures. Yet just about everyone no matter what kind of hair they have -- falls prey to at least one hair problem at some point in life.

Hair Fall

Both emotional and physical stress (such as a serious illness or recovery from surgery) have been associated with hair loss. Because there are many types of hair loss, finding the cause can be challenging.

Hair Loss - When Should You Opt For Hair Transplant?

Hello Friends!

I am Dr. Urvashi Chandra and I practice at Chandra Clinic, Pitampura, New Delhi. I see a lot of hair loss patients on daily basis in my practice. And hair loss can be of a wide variety. It can because of stress, nutritional deficiency, genetics. So, today in this video I will only talk about genetic hair loss which is most disturbing for men as well as women. So, genetic hair loss is generally is in your genes. It may or may not be hereditary which means your father or anyone from your mother side may or may not have this baldness issue. A patient comes to me at a different stage of hair loss. Some people come when the hair loss just started. Some people come when there is visibly thinning across the scalp. And some patient comes when there is a lot of evident baldness. So, treatment for every stage is different. If you have just started hair loss than the medicines alone are good enough. Plus we are also going to tell you that how to modify your lifestyle because there could be some reason which is causing hair loss which is sudden weight loss, excessive gyming, excessive traveling, not taking care of diet, taking some medicines. There might be some medicines which are causing hair loss.

So, these are all the factors which we are taking to account to treat a patient of hair loss. In case, your hair loss is at some advanced stage which means there is some thinning, in that case, we suggest some other treatments along with your prescription medicines such as PRP or laser helmet. In this we take a blood sample, we take the platelet part out of the sample and inject back into your scalp. This is the no.1 therapy across the globe right now for treating hair loss which includes some thinning. So, this is the therapy we generally do once in 3 weeks or once in a month into 3 sittings and patient get a very good increase in density nearly 6 months along with prescription medicines. So, there are PRP injections given across the scalp, the procedure takes half an hour to 45 minutes. Results are fantastic. There is another therapy which is called laser helmet. It has low-level laser light.

You have to use this helmet thrice a week, every time for 20 minutes. This is the therapy you can use with your prescription medicines. This is the therapy suggested to people who have just started noticing the thinning of the hair. This is now FDA approved. It is a take-home product. No need to come to the clinic again and again. There are people who come with the advanced stage of hair loss where there is balding. For such patients, we suggest the hair transplant. It is a surgical procedure and unlike the common misconception, that revolves around hair transplants that there are a lot of side-effects, a lot of pain. But it is not the fact. The fact is hair transplant is the safe procedure. Yes, there can be 1 or 2 side-effects, mild infections, some boils but it is a very safe procedure. I have been doing hair transplant for the last 8 years. You get back your hair from 10 months to a year.

So, everybody who has advanced regular hair fall or hair loss, I would suggest you go for a hair transplant. There are 2 procedures for hair transplant. One is the FUE. In this, the hair is taken out one by one and implanted one by one. the other way is the strip technique in which the long strip of skin is cut and that graft is put into the area wherever is required. So, both the procedures have their pros and cons. FUE is more comfortable for the patient. Patents have less pain. it is the procedure that can be done on the majority of patients. The patient can join back the next day. The one disadvantage or the limitation of FUE is probably you will not be able to get a number of hair in a single session. So, you might have to go for 2 sessions. Strips surgery on the other hand also called FUT. It involves the entire cutting of the skin. So, an elasticity of your scalp is important. Also, the scarring part is there. So, the strip surgery is more assistant or dependent. In our clinic, FUE is done 100% by doctors, not assistants. in terms of downtime, with FUE you can join the work the next day. With strip, surgery will have to take some days rest because the sochers are quite tight. So, there is some pain at the back of your scalp. You may have to take rest for some days. But either way, both procedures have their pros and cons.

In case, you have a genetic pattern or hereditary pattern of huge baldness. So, your implantation will be done accordingly. You cannot expect that your implantation will be done with a very low hairline or with a very high density. I would also like to stress that you have to be careful of the clinic that you choose for hair transplant because you may go to multiple clinics who will give you false claims that you will get a very high density. But this is not natural. So, you have to make sure that the surgeon you choose. Density is reasonable, you may need multiple sessions for the procedures. Whatever the side-effects will be there, the surgeon will assign you the procedure.

Also, you must check the experience of your surgeon or how much procedures he has done specifically in hair transplant. The procedure is done by the surgeon or whether the procedure is done by his assistant. These are the couple of checkpoints that you need to check. What are the instruments that are used? The punches which are used, from where they are coming. Are the punches sharp or the punches dull? Because all the things are going to matter. They are going to make a huge difference to your result and also the healing. Also, you have to be aware of, people who say that they are using robotics. But the robot is actually not the robot. It is just a suction machine which revolves the punch and this machine is given the name of the robot. So, you have to make sure that what is the technique that is used. What are the exact instruments that will be used?

The experience of the surgeon. The scalp that will be covered. At the end of this video, I would like to again tell you that depending on your kind of hair loss, choose your treatment wisely, beware of people who tell you that when you need a hair transplant only when you have just mild thinning. Because this procedure is not meant for who have just some thinning. For some thinning, that can be dealt with just medicines or PRP or laser. You don't need the transplant in that case. So, make sure you choose your clinic wisely and take care of your hair. Of course, you have to modify your lifestyle. Take care of your diet to maintain healthy hair. MAke sure your diet is healthy. That would make sure that your hair is good for life. Even you have rejected pattern of baldness, that should not start very early in life. Because if you have very stressful life than the same genetic pattern that you probably get at the age of 40, you will definitely develop at the age of 30. If your life is stressful and your diet is not OK. So, take care of your diet and be healthy and stay healthy.

Bye!

Hair Loss And Baldness

Hello everyone!

I am Dr Mansi Sanghvi. I am a founder and medical director of skin 360, skin, hair and laser clinic. We are located at Powai in Mumbai. I have been practicing as a Dermatologist and skin & hair expert over the last 10 years now.

Today I will be talking to you about one of the most common issues that today's young people face that is hair loss and balding and how to manage it. In today's corporate world hair has become one of the important assets of one's personality and managing the hair health has become extremely important. These days what most of the young patient present to us is with androgenetic alopecia, androgen means hormone, so hormonally induced hair loss is becoming very common in young people males and females are like. So what are the factors that cause hormonal imbalance, these are essentially the sedentary lifestyles, lack of exercise, imbalanced diet, irregular sleep patterns and undue stress over one's body. Therefore the treatment for hair loss and balding should start with reversing the factor that causes hormonal imbalance, this includes introduction of healthy lifestyle, change in sleep pattern and regularising it, eating the right food and working out on daily basis. In addition to this your Dermatologist can help you with certain supplements which correct the dietary deficiency, of course the doctor will do the blood test first before starting the treatment. Doctors will also ask you to apply certain lotion on the scalp which improves the quality of follicles and make it live longer so that the hair becomes to thicker and denser. In addition to this starting with certain advanced treatment really help to regain the lost hair much faster. These treatment include introduction of stem cells and growth factor into your scalp so how do we do this, these growth factors are injected with very fine needles on your scalp. It is absolutely painless and much comfortable treatment to undergo, doctor may suggest you couple of sessions depending upon how bad the case is. It would be done somewhere between one week to 15 days and it just requires about 10 minutes of your time. The 2nd line management is much advanced and it is very popular these days, it is called PRP which is called Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy. Now what is that, in this treatment we take about 10 to 15 ml of your blood and we centrifuge it to remove the platelets of your blood from it, now your platelets are very important for you because they carry the growth factor required for any tissue regeneration in your body. Here we are going to inject your platelets back in your scalp using fine needles to make the treatment much less discomforting what we do is that we apply the numbing cream on your scalp for half an hour which calms down the sensation so that when we do this treatment it's not painful to you. This treatment however requires about 45 minutes of your time, combining both these treatments together that is mesotherapy and PRP we have seen some wonderful results. Wherein we have helped the patient gain back about 30 to 35% of their lost hair back. Once the hair has been recovered it is absolutely important to maintain it. The maintenance of these hair follicles is in terms of eating the right nutrition applying certain lotions, at least two or three times a week the doctor will prescribe you and doing certain treatment every year to maintain the regain hair follicles. In very severe cases if the balding is very extensive we may suggest you to undergo hair transplantation. Which is done by the expert surgeon and it helps you to recover the lost hair which may help you to regain the lost hair and the lost confidence. I hope you have found this talk on hair loss and its management useful.

If you have any enquiry or if you would like to consult with me, then you can visit lybrate.com and take an appointment with me from there. Thank you very much.